For the second year in a row, the Jackson State Tigers are heading to college baseball’s big dance.

Joes Cruz singled in the go-ahead run during a three-run sixth inning, and the Tigers outlasted Alabama State 9-8 Sunday to win the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament and the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

It’s the second consecutive year that Jackson State (31-23) has won the SWAC title, and its 16th title overall.

The NCAA Tournament brackets will be announced on May 26.

JSU pitcher Desmond Russell was named the SWAC Tournament’s MVP. He pitched five innings Sunday, and also went 2-for-4 with two walks, an RBI and a run scored.

Melvin Rodriguez was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, Aneko Knowles drove in two runs, and Tilur Smith was 2-for-5 with two runs scored.

Dexter Price, Richard Amion and Waldyvan Estrada all homered for Alabama State (37-20), which jumped out to a 5-2 lead after three innings but couldn’t hold on.

Jackson State scored three times in the fourth inning to tie it on an RBI single by Russell. After Price put Alabama State back in front with an RBI single in the fifth inning, JSU took the lead for good in the sixth.

Rodriguez’s RBI single tied the game at 6, then Cruz followed with another RBI single to put the Tigers ahead. Rodriguez scored on Bryce Taylor’s sacrifice fly to make it 8-6.

Alabama State got an RBI single from Raul Perez in the sixth inning and Amion’s homer in the eighth to get within a run twice, but JSU answered in the eighth with Charles Tillery’s run-scoring hit to stay in front.